Monday, December 30, 2013

Pirate cases will now be prosecuted for hearing in
Tanzania courts of law any time from now, the Minister for Justice and
Constitutional Affairs Mathias Chikawe also an MP for Nachingwea (CCM) has said.
Minister Chikawe said in an exclusive interview yesterday in Dar es Salaam when
contacted him to clarify why such cases are not being prosecuted in the
country. Instead victims of such cases are taken to the neighboring Kenyan country
for prosecution, this paper also wanted to know what the way forward for the
government is over the matter. In clarification, the minister noted that, the
prosecution of the people caught and charged on piracy along the Indian Ocean
waters off the country’s frontiers is an agreement between one country with the
other before are taken before the court of law. Contrary to what is now going
to be practiced in the country over the matter, formerly suspects on piracy
along the Indian Ocean waters were being prosecuted in Kenya and in Seychelles,
the two countries had an agreement on international conventions which Tanzania
had not yet entered. The call by the minister is rather different from what had
been previously reported in one of the local news media organ in the country
that, ‘Tanzania had no law that could enable prosecute criminals charged on
allegations of piracy in court once apprehended by police and navy patrolling
officers along Indian Ocean waters bordering national frontiers’. Clarification
by the minister indicates that, Tanzania had not yet entered into agreement
with others its neighbors in the prosecution of hard core criminals on piracy
once arrested practicing their mischief.In recent years, there has been a series of pirates attack on Indian
Ocean waters by Somali citizens believed to be Islamist insurgents who tend to
hijack ships navigating along the confluence of Indian ocean water and the
perpetrators have been demanding lots of money from the owners of the shipping
companies for their survival. Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century.Since
2005, many international organizations, including the International
Maritime Organization and the World Food Program, have
expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy.
Piracy has impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping
expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in global trade
according to statistics report by Oceans beyond Piracy (OBP).

According to the German Institute
for Economic Research (DIW), a veritable industry of profiteers has
also risen around the piracy. Insurance companies, in particular, have
profited from the pirate attacks, as insurance premiums have increased
significantly. A United Nations report
and several news sources have suggested that piracy off the coast of Somalia was caused in part by illegal fishing.
According to the DIW and the U.S. House Armed Services Committee,
the dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters by foreign
vessels also severely constrained the ability of local fishermen to earn a
living. In response, the
fishermen began forming armed groups to stop the foreign ships. They eventually
turned to hijacking commercial vessels for ransom as an alternate source of
income. In 2009, a survey by Wardheer News found that approximately 70 percent
of the local coastal communities at the time "strongly supported the
piracy as a form of national defense of the country's territorial waters. The
pirates also believed that they were protecting their fishing grounds and
exacting justice and compensation for the marine resources stolen. By the end
of 2011, pirates managed to seize only four ships off of the coast of Somalia,
22 fewer than the 26 they had captured in each of the two previous years. They
also attempted unsuccessful attacks on 52 other vessels, as of 18 October 2013,
the pirates were holding 1 large ship and an estimated 50 hostages. According to another source, there were 151
attacks on ships in 2011, compared with 127 in 2010 – but only 25 successful
hijacks compared to 47 in 2010. Pirates held 10 vessels and 159 hostages in
February 2012. In 2011, pirates earned
$146m, an average of $4.87m per ship. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pirates
operated, by February 2012 1,000 had been captured and were legally prosecuted
in 21 countries.

Among
the most surprising news which transpired in the just ended Parliamentary debating
session last week is the resignation of four ministers. This came into being
amid pressure by lawmakers on some violation of human rights and abuse of power
by executives while carrying out a national anti-poaching campaign known as
‘Tokomeza’. Apart from this incident, there are some crucial matters which were
discussed by Members of Parliament that focused the implications of the current
national economic stand in a bid to ensure the ‘Big Results Now’. The following
is a summary of what had transpired during a three week session. In
this feature article, the writer has focused some of the most important matters
which the Parliament discussed and proposed as directives for which the
government has to adopt for the next development plans for the 2014/15 fiscal
year. During the meeting, the MPs took time to ask a total of 170 basic
questions and 458 supplementary questions which are normally carried out in
early opening session, and all of these were answered by the government
correctly. In addition to that, 17 basic questions and other 15 supplementary
questions were instantly answered by the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda carried
out on every Tuesday and Thursday of a week long running session. Together with
all these questions, the parliament also had accomplished successfully four major
works it had to content with in line of its implementation program it had set
for its 14th meeting. During the sessions, the Parliament discussed
and approved the following, firstly the Referendum Bill 2013, secondly the MPs
discussed nine standing parliamentary committees which stands for sector
developments in the country. The Parliament also honored the late Nelson
Mandela in a special session, it also had discussed and later accepted to
review an emergency bill on the Excise Management and Tariff amendment Bill of
the 2013. Members
of Parliament also observed a one minute silence in honor of the departed South
African first black President Nelson Mandela who passed away during the time
when the parliament was in middle conducting its 14th session.Such interruption could not be avoided by
the Speaker of the National Assembly Anne Makinda who allowed a debate and
passed a resolution to hail Mandela’s life as a global leader. On
the nine standing committees, these were the Parliamentary Accounts Committee
(PAC), Local Authority Accounts Committee (LAAC), budgetary committee,
Constitution, justice and good governance committee and the committee on Local
government and Regional administration. Other committees were Community
services, development committee, defense and security, Foreign Affairs and
International relations, Economy, industry and trade as well as the committee
which stand for the HIV/AIDS issues in the country. Other committees were
infrastructure, energy and minerals, agriculture, livestock and water as well
as land, natural resources and environment. The MPs discussion on the latter
committee led to the resignation of the four ministers following a special investigative
report which was carried out by the committee to investigate an ill fated operation
of anti-poaching campaign instituted by the government, known as ‘Tokomeza’ to which their ministries were
directly implicated. The report revealed systematic violations of human rights
which occurred while implementing the exercise a result of which had caused
public outcry of some of the misconduct during its operation. The findings of
the report were tabled in Parliament by its committee chairman James Lembeli an
MP for Kahama (CCM). After having read the report in the house last week in
Friday, it had touched the hearts of lawmakers and observers alike who shared
horrid tales of how the operation was conducted to systematically break
down, torture and murder of innocent civilians mentioned in the report. The
report revealed horrible incidents of human rights violations, including
raping, sodomy, seizure of property, false cases in court and other abuses
resulting into deaths and trauma especially among pastoralists.

There was no means President Jakaya Kikwete
could do top minimize the high pressure by lawmakers who jointly demanded for
the resignation of the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, but after a long debate
over the issue he came with a decision to sack from the office his four cabinet
ministers. It is true that the President was sure to discipline his ministers for
failing to effectively manage the infamous operation which was suspended
indefinitely due to widespread claims by the people from where it went through.
The ministers and their ministries in brackets are Khamis Kagasheki (Natural
Resources and Tourism), David Mathayo (Livestock and Fisheries), Emmanuel
Nchimbi (Home Affairs) and Shamsi Vuai Nahodha (Defense and National Service). Coming
to other fascinating matters, the house had passed a referendum bill of 2013
which was tabled by the State Minister in the Prime Ministers’ Office (policy,
coordination and parliamentary affairs) William Lukuvi. The bill which has now
been enacted into a law will govern the referendum to be undertaken as part of
a process to enable Tanzanians to write a new constitution which currently is
in process of review. In reality, the referendum process empowers people to
make democratic decision for the sake of improving good governance. Under the
proposed law, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and Zanzibar Electoral
Commission (ZEC) will be mandated to manage the referendum on the new
constitution following directives from the President of the United Republic of
Tanzania in consultation with Zanzibar President. Minister Lukuvi pointed out
that, the intended law will also provide for conditions in managing the
referendum, and on voting process he said all Tanzanians aged 18 years and
above and who have fulfilled conditions to be registered as voters will be
eligible to be registered by NEC and ZEC and participate in the referendum. Another
thing which transpired in parliament is the amendment of the Excise Management
and Tariff amendment Bill 2013 of the Finance Act 2, which has eliminated the
Tsh1000 charged on simcards per month and instead raising airtime taxation from
14.5 per cent to 17 per cent, after Deputy Finance Minister Saada Mkuya
presented the two amendment proposals. The change follow sustained discussions
between regulatory authorities and major communication firms after complaints
were raised on taxing simcard use, instead of a graduated airtime use charge. Ms
Mkuya said that the change would make users of electronic communications
services to pay such tax according to amount of airtime use, starting early
next month. Amendments had to be made to
take account of needs of the poor especially rural dwellers, thus removing the
uniform rate of payment for users, to focus entirely on capacity of use.“Whoever uses more services will pay more,
and those who limit their use will also pay less,” the deputy minister said,
without providing details on how the rates of payment would be manifested in
the transactions. Another phenomenon is where the Parliamentary standing committee on
Economy, industries and Commerce asked the government to put in place strategies
which would help to reduce the alarming rates of tax exemptions which have been
denying the government the much needed revenue.The report by the committee as it was
tabled by its committee chairman Mahmoud Mgimwa (Mufindi North CCM) noted that,
Tanzania leads in tax exemptions in East Africa region.He said tax exemptions in the country has
reached 3.1 percent of the national income (GDP), exemptions in Kenya accounts
for 1 percent of DGP and Uganda exemptions stands at 0.4 percent of GDP.The standing committee on parliamentary
budget managed to show its value and its importance despite being new, its Chairman
Andrew Chenge Bariadi west (CCM) noted when tabling the report on the
implementation of activities that in its short span the committee has been able
to persuade the government to increase budgetary allocations in some ministries
during the coming 2014/15 fiscal year.

PLANS
are underway by the government to review the high selling price rates for the
Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) which it had introduced to the targeted
businesspeople and trading enterprises with higher working capital of between
Sh. 14 million and over, The Guardian
can authoritatively report. TRA’S Director for Taxpayer Services and Education
Richard Kayombo said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that, the move is to make
affordable price rates for such devices to quench the thirst of those who
complained of their high costs. He said in an exclusive interview that, the
government is doing negotiations with 11 companies which it had offered a legal
tender to distribute the devices countrywide with a view to reduce their price
costs. He named the agencies as Advatech Office Supplies Limited, Bolsto Solutions Limited, Business Machines Tanzania
Limited, Checknocrats Tanzania Limited, Compulynx
Tanzania Limited, Maxcom Africa Limited. Other companies Pergamon Group
Limited, Power computers Telecommunication Limited, Soft Net Technologies
Limited, Total Fiscal
Solutions Limited, Web Technologies Tanzania
Limited. He said the move is to minimize the arising chaos and
complaints following the misunderstanding which rose among users when the
devices were introduced for use in early November this year. He said that, a team
of technical experts from TRA would meet with the distributing agencies to discuss the cost of components so as to review
the current price cost of Sh. 900,000 and make them saleable at least between
Sh. 600,000 and Sh. 690,000 respectively. He said once the price rates are
attained, still buyers of these machines would buy them by installments on
agreed terms of payments therein, or they might acquire loan facilities from
the financial institutions to settle down their payments. Meanwhile the
government has reiterated its need to continue educating the basic use of these
devices by highlighting their importance to the general public from village
level to regional level through district councils. Kayombo noted that, the
government does the work through seminars which currently is being conducted in
various parts in the country, adding that, it is a continuous program through
block management system which is being supported by the government targeting
mostly to various community groups. When asked what actions they would take
against people or enterprises which would defy the order of using the devices,
he said that, there will be a series of warning three times and two reminders
to be given within 14 days time. After that, he continued and noted that stern
measures would be taken according to the law whereby the culprits would be
charged 5 percent of the total amount of their collections for the first time. On the second warning of defiance, a penalty
of 10 percent would be imposed to defaulters and for the third time, serious
penalties would be imposed including a fine of between Sh. 1 million and 3
million. This would be reinforced as per the Cap 104 of the subsection 2 of the
TRA Act of revenue collection. In early November this year, business came to a
standstill at Dar es Salaam’s Kariakoo main shopping market for both retrial
and whole sale commodities as traders closed their stores protesting the use of
Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs). Other up-country business people threatened
to boycott trading to join their fellows who were protesting the price rates of
the introduced devices brought to them by the government to buy that would
regulate their financial accounting systems as such devices are designed to
evaluate the amount of money for tax collections. Traders complained over the use which they said
have adverse impacts on their businesses.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Despite of the looming famine exacerbated by
shortage of rains in some parts in the country, there has been a slight
increase on food prices which has occurred in some regions in the country,
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has said. The Premier was highlighting food
situation of the last quarter of the year 2013 in the country to Members of
Parliament on Saturday last week in Dodoma during his closing address speech of
the 14th Parliamentary session which lasted for three weeks of the
15 working days. In his speech, he said that, despite of such increase, food
situation in the country is not so bad, may be in some areas which have
received bad harvests of food crops. The Premier noted that, the situation has caused
the average food prices for rice and maize in most selling local markets in the
country to slightly increase but not in less affordable rates. He noted that,
the national maize price has increased from Sh. 526.86 a kilogram in October to
Sh. 538.28 a kilogram in November 2013. This is an increase of 6 percent. On
rice prices the Premier noted that, the national average price for this
commodity has increased from Sh. 1,188.60 for a kilogram to Sh. 1,191.10 within
the same trading period. This is an increase of 3 percent. Despite of slight
increase in prices, still the current price rates of other food crops such as
beans, potatoes and others could be fetched at a lower and affordable price
rates to low income people, in comparison with last year’s trading period of
between October and November of such food crops. In view of the situation whose
trend looks not so bad, Premier Pinda has directed Regional Commissioners in
the country whose regions have experienced abundant crop harvests to inform
farmers in such regions to reserve enough food in future use for their families.
He has also issued a directive that, they should sell the surplus in local market
so as to reduce the inflating food prices as the situation in some towns and
cities in the country is unpredictable. The Premier has also directed the
district council’s executives to make sure that they have an overall control of
the sale of food crops from farmers in their areas in a bid to prevent
unscrupulous traders who might cause high inflation which might result into
food shortages. In this way however, the Premier noted that, with such effective
measures if taken, would ensure the availability of food in abundance in most
parts in the country. Evaluations on food and nutrition which was done between
October and November 2013 in areas already faced by food insecurity in the
country has shown that, the total number of 828,063 citizens are faced with acute
food shortages in the country, and are in need of about 23,312 tones of food as
up to February 2014. Either between July and November 2013 the National Food
Reserve Agency (NFRA) has set aside a total of 16,119 tones of food to be
distributed to respective various district councils which are in need of such
food in the country. Up to 16th December this year, out of this, a total
of 13, 716 tones of such food had already been taken by almost all district
councils in the country, only the remaining 2,402 tones of food stock which are
not yet taken by 5 district councils namely Mwanga, Babati, Igunga, Mpwapwa and
Manyoni. Premier Pinda has called upon the executives of the authorities
concerned of the said district councils to make sure that, they collect their
allocated tones of food for their people within their jurisdiction by 15th
January 2014. Or else the Premier has cautioned, legal actions would be taken
against any who shall have defied the order. Otherwise, the Premier noted that
the government has reiterated its commitment to continue doing all it can in
order to ensure the availability of food in various districts which seems to be
facing food insecurity.

AWARD 1

I won the second prize in policy category of the African Information society Initiative ( AISI) awards 2004 which is annually organized by the United Nations- Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA) based in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. On the first photo above standing with other awardees after the Ceremony at the National Settlers monument in Grahamstown, South Africa.This was during the 8th Highway Africa Conference.The second photo shows the cross section of Jounalists from different African countries who attended the ceremony.

AWARD 2

I also won the AISI-GKP/SDC Media Award special reporting on WSIS process and Africa, and conferred with the award in Tunis, Tunisia during WSIS summit in 2005. See the photo above.

AWARD 3

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about " Stigma denial and Discrimination" associated with HIV/AIDS. This was organized by theAssociation of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT). On the Photo above President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania, ( then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony.This was at Maelezo auditorium in Dar-es-Salaam September 2005.

AWARD 4

Winner on the Media Competition on writing about "Vulnerable Children" associated with HIV/AIDS This was organized by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania ( AJAAT)

AWARD 5

Winner of the National ICT Media Award organized By SWOPNET in the Country. On the photo above Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General ( Rt) Saidi Kalembo was the guest of honour during the award giving ceremony which was held at New Sarvoy Hotel in morogoro town.I was awarded a Mobile phone and a tape-recorder.

AWARD 6

I participated in the Media Competition in writing about VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) in Tanzania which was held between July 15th and October 30th 2008 whereby I emerged among the top five winners. The competition was under the program known as “Tanzania bila Ukwimwi inawezekana” which literally means, Tanzania without AIDS disease transmission is possible”. This is a program which was organizedby the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT) under TACAIDS funding. In the photo, I am being presented with a certificate of participation by the Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) Dr. Fatma Mrisho in a colorful ceremony which was held on 22nd December 2008 at Tanzania Information Centre in Dar es Salaam.

AWARD 7

AWARD 8

AWARD 9

I was among the top 17 best selected students who excelled in their final examinations of the 2010/2011 academic year and awarded with the Vice-Chancellor’s prize. I scored 4.5 GPA (First Class) in BA in Journalism. Above I am being given a certificate by the Chairman of the Open University of Tanzania Board of Senate. Standing at the centre facing camera is the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolly Mbwette. Extreme left partly hidden is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Elifas Bisanda. This occasion took place during the convocation meeting, a day before the graduation day at the prospective permanent headquarter of the Open University of Tanzania which is currently under construction at Bungo-Kibaha in Coast region 40 kilometers away west of Dar es Salaam city.